“The Office ”star Brian Baumgartner recalls getting 'really mad' at editors over cutting racy joke: 'You're overthinking this'

Ryan ColemanWed, March 18, 2026 at 4:36 AM UTC

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'The Office' stars Ed Helms, Steve Carell, Mindy Kaling, and Brian Baumgartner on 'Baby Shower' episodeCredit: NBCKey Points -

The Office star Brian Baumgartner tells EW how his getting "really mad" at the editors who cut one of his character's raciest jokes from a season 5 episode led to it being reinstated later.

"I just thought it was just pound-for-pound an amazing joke," Baumgartner says of the risqué line involving the potential parentage of Jan's (Melora Hardin) baby, Astrid.

"I got really mad about that one, and I lost the argument, but now they have put it back in," he says, which represents "a little bit of vindication for me."

Brian Baumgartner was one of only six cast members who appeared on every episode of The Office. Not every joke, zinger, or improvised bit shot across nine seasons made it to air — but because of his protests, one cut joke made by his character, Kevin, did eventually make it back to streaming.

"What I remember as being unique about the show from the beginning through the end, was we were able to give input —pitch stories, talk to the writers about what we wanted to see come over a certain episode or arc of episodes," Baumgartner recently told Entertainment Weekly ahead of his wild collaboration with Ramp for Super Bowl LX. "There were certainly some ideas that I had that they incorporated, and some that they did not."

Michael Scott and Melora Hardin on 'The Office'Credit: NBC

"One time I got really mad at the editors. There was a joke — and now they have put it back in, so most people have seen it," Baumgartner explains. "I just thought it was pound-for-pound an amazing joke. It was a great joke, and they cut it."

Baumgartner is thinking of a moment that viewers of the original broadcast of the classic season 5 episode "Baby Shower" were not treated to in 2008, but which fans can now easily enjoy via streaming. Rainn Wilson's Dwight and Steve Carell's Michael wreak havoc across the titular office in the episode preparing for Melora Hardin's Jan to give birth to her first child, which she conceived via sperm donor while romantically involved with Michael.

The actor recalled that shortly after Jan brings baby Astrid to the office, "Kevin begins asking her about where she got the sperm donated for the baby. She says some version of like, 'Oh, you know, it's a very exclusive place,' and Kevin knowingly says, 'The place behind the IHOP?'"

The genius of the joke, as Baumgartner tells it, comes from "the look on [Hardin's] face thinking that possibly the donated sperm came from Kevin, and what that would mean for Michael." But the episode's editors didn't see the vision.

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"When it first aired on NBC, they came to me and they were like, 'Sorry.' I was like, 'What are you talking about?'" Baumgartner states emphatically. The writers told him the joke raised potential narrative concerns: "'We don't really have a storyline about this, or we don't want to confuse people to think that it might set something up with Kevin's baby,'" Baumgartner recalls.

But the actor dug his heels in. "I was like, 'No, you're overthinking this. This is just a great joke. Yeah, this is a great joke. That doesn't have to go anywhere.'"

Eventually, his position became the winning one.

"I got really mad about that one, and I lost the argument, but now they have put it back in. It's interesting, you can't watch that episode now and not see that moment happen. So it's a little bit of vindication for me," he says.

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"Baby Shower" is a standout episode from season 5, setting up several beloved episodes turning on the unique dynamic between Michael, Jan, and baby Astrid. And indeed, the issue of Kevin's potential parentage was never raised again.

on Entertainment Weekly

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